New Friend (Bonded Pair: part 2)
Summary: After getting used to each other, you and Simon are brought to meet Grace at last.
Author’s Snip: Here part 2 for those who asked.
I’ll shut up now. Enjoy! And don’t be afraid to request. Reblogs appreciated but no pressure.
Taglist for those who wanted to be notified on part 2: @eaterof-concrete @hsjdhehsjssj @pinkclawsandarm @thesoggyraincloud @blooded-bat-bug @eth3realc0rps3 @ariana1881 @thepinkjedi
The biodome was a lot bigger than you anticipated it to be. It almost perfectly mimicked earth with the artificial sky and ground. You hadn’t set foot on earth for a very long time, even before tragedy befell your ship and team, so seeing it replicated near perfectly felt strange when you held the notation that you were light years away and quite possibly in some alternate dimension based off some things not adding up to how you remember them. You didn’t like thinking about that last part too much. It was a can of existentialism that you weren’t mentally stable enough to quite understand yet. Though now you realize that this place is probably completely alien to Simon. He’s told you what his world was like. A place where flourishing life was so rare that a tree was held to the same level as a God and the universe around you was fading out like the last ambers of a dying fire, threatening to leave what remained in the cold darkness.
You look towards Simon as you both slowly walk with your welcoming committee of eridian researchers to meet the third other human who resides here. Simon looks gobsmacked, like his mind can’t believe what his eyes relay back to it. You’re pretty sure if you weren’t holding his hand and had the researchers sort of herding you as you walked, Simon would wander off in his daze. You take a few more glances at your surroundings as you continue on until a figure appears in the distance.
It’s a man. With short blonde hair and slightly skewed glasses resting on the crown of his head, wearing a large cardigan and comfortable looking clothes. He’s being followed closely behind by two other eridians that you have come to learn are named Rocky and Adrian. He looks happy as he lightly jogs your way calling out to you.
You freeze almost immediately, taking a tighter hold of Simon’s hand that both stops him in his tracks and alerts him to the situation. He notices the stranger approaching and stands close to you, letting go of your hand and almost putting himself between you and the man as he comes closer.
“You must be the other two people Rocky’s been telling me about! I’ve been dying to meet you but they’ve been saying something about making sure you two are okay to be around!” the man exclaims gleefully.
A few beats pass and he notices that you both are looking at him like he’s got two heads and not saying anything. He tries to reapproach the interaction and clears his throat. “Sorry. It’s been a while since I’ve seen other human people. I guess I’m coming off a little too excited.” he apologizes before extending his hand for a handshake, “My name’s Ryland Grace. Everyone here just calls me Grace though.” Grace says. But that awkward uneaten silence between all three of you still sits in the air heavy as stone. “Simon and (name) are very scared. They have been recovering from high stress situations that occurred before rescue. Still recovering. Might still need time to acclimate to new things.” one of the researchers in your entourage states.
“Oh? Yeah, no, I get that. I, uh, I’ve heard that you two were found in less safe conditions and might have been through a lot.” Grace responds as he looks between the two of you and the researchers. “That’s totally fine…” he comments as if he’s trying to make things less awkward by validating your complicated reactions to everything. “Well then how about we all have a walk together and I can give you both a tour so you can acclimate without having to worry about… anything?” Grace suggests, his voice going higher at the end due to him not really knowing how to make you and Simon feel safe and assure you that nothing is here to get you. That’s when you both stop tensely staring at Grace and look towards each other.
There’s a whole conversation that goes on within that moment of you two looking at each other. It consists of Simon asking “Do you trust it?” with the small raise of his eye brows. You then respond to it with a microscopic head tilt that says “I’ll trust it if you trust it.” To which you glance back at Grace, then to Rocky and Adrian, the researchers with you, and then back to each other to confirm. You give a small nod to Simon to let him know you’re okay and he gives one back. You look at Grace and just say “Sure.”.
Grace takes you on a tour of the biodome, showing you all the sights and rambling about all the nifty things that the team behind it have been able to mimic and create to make it more accurate to Grace and the Hail Mary’s information about earth. You just nod along while helping Simon get over his culture shock from seeing things like the biodome greenhouse and shores.
“This is pretty good work you’ve done here, Grace.” you compliment, “Wouldn’t you say so, Si?” you say as you nudge your companion’s side with your elbow to snap him out of his gawking. “Yeah…” he says, clearly not having roused your efforts. “Maybe we could make use of this place once we properly move in, if Grace wouldn’t mind?” you say in a tone that’s trying to get his attention while taking his hand and giving it a tug. Still nothing. “Come on, Si! What? Have you secretly had a fishbowl in your head this entire time?” you tease as you gently flick the side of his head with your free hand. That seems to do it as he scoffs and says “Alright, alright. I’m listening. Are you finally gonna split your face open and eat mine already?”. You roll your eyes, “Oh shut up! I’m on a diet and all those teeth are gonna upset my stomach anyways.” you retort with your own joke.
Grace looks confused as you both laugh before you notice and turn to him.
“Hey, Grace. What’s your deal anyways? You seem remarkably less traumatized. How’d you end up here?” you ask.
“Oh, it’s a long story. I worked on trying to figure out how to defeat the astrophage with researchers from earth, but after all of them died I was drugged and shipped off with the last remaining ones but they died too and I woke up not knowing who I was and was left alone for a long time till Rocky found me. We were both in the same boat so we worked together till we figured it all out. I was going to head back to earth but decided against it because Rocky didn’t have enough fuel on his ship to get home and I had no one waiting on earth for me so I chose to come here instead. I almost starved to death getting here too and Rocky held the solution hostage till I was treated.” Grace casually recounted.
You and Simon stood there shocked for a minute before Rocky bluntly said “Rocky would do again.” to cut the silence.
“Oh okay, nice to know we aren’t the only fucked up ones here.” you nod as you take Simon’s hand and continue on with the tour.
“So what was that about your face splitting open, if you don’t mind me asking?” Grace asks cautiously as he moves ahead of you to continue leading the tour.
“We’ve both got long stories that we aren’t ready to fully unpack either.” you respond.
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